ESPN college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit has had a front row seat to a lot of the mayhem we’ve seen this college football season, so who better to break down what has been another wild and exciting college football season?

Sporting News caught up with Herbstreit this week, who was making the rounds talking about another type of mayhem—60 Seconds of Mayhem—an Allstate-sponsored event where a fan can win a trip to the BCS championship game as well as other prizes.

Q: How surprised were you that Alabama lost?

Herbstreit: I wasn’t shocked. I thought A&M could give them a great game because of Johnny Manziel and the style of offense they play. I thought they’d put points up on the board. I really wondered if A&M’s defense could hold up and to their credit, they did. They competed. The most impressive thing to me was, A&M with the lead most of the game didn’t get conservative and didn’t play to hold onto a lead. They just kept the foot on the accelerator. I thought that mentality in the end is what allowed them to be victorious on the road in Tuscaloosa. But I wasn’t shocked at all that they were able to win the game.

Q: There was chatter emerging that this could be the best Alabama.

Herbstreit: The (Alabama) teams that we’ve seen win two of the past three national championships were pretty good football teams. The team that won it in ’09 with Greg McElroy—that defense was scary good. A lot of those guys are in the NFL. The team that won it last year, defensively, a lot of people felt that was the best defense maybe to ever play college football. To look at this team and assume that they’re going to be one of the best ever, it’s almost like we’re running out of good things to say about Alabama because they’ve been the best ever for two of the last three years and now we want to look at them again this year.

Q: No one envisioned Texas A&M being 8-2 in its first year playing in the SEC with a freshman quarterback. Kevin Sumlin has to have the Aggies feeling good about the future?

Herbstreit: Without a doubt. Kevin Sumlin is kind of an old-school guy as far as his approach, the way he gets his team motivated. He’s a great X’s and O’s guy. He’s got one of the better offensive coordinators in Kliff Kingsbury, who played in that Mike Leach-Hal Mumme system and is now calling plays for A&M. He’s got Mark Snyder, a former Ohio State defensive coordinator, was a head coach at Marshall, running his defense. The thing that they’ve told me is, being in the state of Texas and putting the three letters S-E-C next to that A&M logo is very, very powerful and a difference maker when it comes to recruiting. … They got this thing going in a hurry and it’s going to be fun to watch.

Q: Which of the three remaining undefeated teams do you think is most susceptible to losing before the regular season is over?

Herbstreit: I think all three have some challenges. I think Notre Dame’s game against USC on the road is a challenging game for them and a game that could go either way. I think Oregon’s game this week against Stanford—the fact it’s at home helps them, but it’s still a challenging game. The game at Corvallis next week, rivalry game on the road, that’s a scary game for Oregon. Believe it or not, I believe the Kansas State-Texas game December 1st is a game that Kansas State better be ready because there’s never going to be a short supply of athletes in Austin and when you put Texas in an underdog role with nothing to lose and Kansas State has everything to lose.

Q: If Ohio State was eligible, where would the Buckeyes fit in this mix?

Herbstreit: I think Ohio State, now that they’ve gotten healthier on the defensive side of the ball, I would say that Ohio State, if they were in the BCS, they would probably be right at four because they’re unbeaten and the fact that their quarterback Braxton Miller gives them a chance to have an opportunity to make plays on offense. I think they’ve grown in that area around him. … According to (ESPN BCS expert) Brad Edwards and others I’ve talked to, they’d probably be at four right now being undefeated and just because the conference, the Big Ten is down and so weak that would affect their strength of schedule and probably keep them behind the other three undefeated teams.